Crook County High School Receives Funds For Library
October 9, 2007The Crook County School District today announced that it has received
$10,000 to update the book collection at the high school library. Local
businesses came together to provide the funds for the program, which
will purchase primarily literary non-fiction and fiction books for the
students. The local community of IronHorse led the fund-raising efforts.
“When
we heard that the library was lacking in the most basic reading
material for our kids, we knew that the community would be supportive
in impacting this situation,” said Randy Jones, project manager for
IronHorse. “Everyone we spoke with was very responsive and generous in
giving money to increase the high school library collection.”
Crook
County High School was targeted for the funds due to a noticeable drop
in readership among these students. Existing fundraising efforts and
parental involvement keep the younger grades active in reading. Lack of
appropriate reading material at the high school library is a great
portion of the problem with the drop in readers.
“When the
students see the new books they will know that the people in our
community care about them and care about their future,” said Lora
Nordquist, associate superintendent of instruction for the Crook County
School District. “What’s unique about this effort was that the
businesses of the community organized and provided funds all on their
own. That speaks volumes to our kids.”
The new books join new
high school librarian Darcy Bedortha, who is redecorating the library
and making it more inviting to students. The library now includes a
coffee shop called “Cool Beanz” where students can gather in addition
to after-school, open mic-style events.
Business in Crook County
that supported the effort included: Bank of the Cascades, Pacific
Power, IronHorse, Amerititle, Contact Industries, Robberson Ford, Sun
Forest Construction, SunWest Builders and Viking Construction.
